Archives for October 2015

This week I saw a poster for the new Emily Blunt film, Sicario. It was attached to a passing bus and had what you might expect from such a poster: the film’s title, the names of the stars, and a photo featuring several of them with the main star filling the foreground – Emily Blunt wearing body armour and wielding a pistol and a seductive pout. It seemed pretty clear: this is a film about some kind of law enforcement kerfuffle (“FBI” was written on the bulletproof vests). So, I was a little surprised when I saw the tagline at the bottom of the poster, a seemingly helpful explanation of the film’s title that informed me the word means “hitman” in Mexico. On the surface this might not seem quite so bad but when you put the title and tagline together, and then compare it with a Hollywood classic you get this:

Alien: In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

Sicario: In Mexico, Sicario Means Hitman

The tagline from Alien adds to the title: we know right there that the film’s likely to be scary. The Sicario one, however, fails to add anything (in fairness there are, I believe other posters with the much better “The Border is just Another Line to Cross” tagline). While there are differences between designing a book cover and a movie poster, both will have a title and often some tagline or subtitle that adds a little extra – a hint of what the book/film is about and/or some kind of hook to get your interest. So why, I wonder, add an explanation of what the word means to Sicario’s poster? The pictures tell us enough – Emily Blunt is an FBI agent (it says so on her bulletproof vest) and will probably shoot some people – and knowing that the particular flavour of antagonist is a hitman doesn’t seem to add much. And if knowing there’s a hitman is so important, if it could make a difference as to whether anyone watches the film, then shouldn’t the title somehow reflect this?

Hollywood, of course, can afford to miss the mark with things like this. Big-budget trailers and star power are probably much bigger deciding factors in a film’s initial success at the cinema, and many people will see a film based solely on genre or which stars it features.

For authors though, particulary those starting out or self-publishing, the book cover can play a large role in sales; often it is our poster. And the words we display on the cover areimportant, an opportunity to tantalise and tease potential readers, to snag their interest. If there’s a subtitle/tagline it needs to be good. We are, after all, writers. Our choice of words matters.

Happy “Back to the Future” Day everybody! That’s right, today is the day that Marty Mcfly travelled forwards in time to in Back to the Future Part II. Although the film was set (before the time travel) in 1985, it was filmed in 1989. There were plenty of ideas thrown in there about what the world might look like in 2015, and while some have come true, others are still a distant dream.

Perhaps guessing what new inventions will be around in 21 years doesn’t seem like such a big ask, but today’s world is very different. Back in 1989, the internet had yet to take off, social media hadn’t been invented, and mobile phones weren’t the sleek everyday items that are so ubiquitous today. So what did the film get right and wrong?

Payment using biometrics is already here, and VR glasses/headsets have been around for a while too. Video conferencing is, rather less interestingly, real, and multi-channel TV screens are available.

But time travel itself remains firmly within the bounds of Science Fiction/Fantasy (depending on whether you believe it’s possible) and Spielberg hasn’t made Jaws 19 yet (I can live with that). Perhaps the greatest tragedy though is that working hoverboards still aren’t available, and there’s no indication anyone’s going to be cornering the market on hoverboards any time soon. I’d gladly swap the video conferencing, VR glasses, and biometrics for the hoverboard. Still, at least DeLoreans are still around. Oh, wait…

The Three-Body Problem sounds like a perfect name for a murder mystery. It’s such a truly great name for that genre of book that if the novel itself wasn’t wonderful I would have felt disappointed it didn’t live up to such a great title. But it does. The Three-Body Problem is great Science Fiction.

The Three-Body Problem is what I call “stealth Science Fiction”. It begins in a cultural revolution, and the opening could almost be that of a literary novel about China in a time of great upheaval. It doesn’t begin as a typical Science Fiction novel but draws you in and then – just as you’re starting to wonder if it really is Sci-Fi – the story slams into full SF mode and charges onward. And it’s a great story, a unique tale with a fresh, unpredictable plot, and striking characters.

What book would be the subject of your first book review? Of all the books you’ve read, is there one that stands out, one that is so good you’d recommend it to others in the hope they found similar enjoyment within its pages? For me, Terry Goodkind’s debut novel topped a short list. I first read Wizard’s First Rule a number of years ago, long enough that I don’t recall the exact catalyst; perhaps recommended by a friend, perhaps found in my local branch library, or perhaps referenced online somewhere. It left an indelible impression, and while there are few novels I will read more than once, this is one of them. Now, as the release of Terry Goodkind’s final novel featuring Richard and Kahlan looms, it seems like an appropriate time to revisit the beginning of the 17 volume series.

The title and cover will tell you that Wizard’s First Rule is a Fantasy novel, but it’s so much more than that. It’s an adventure, a love story, and a puzzle. Perhaps more important than that though, the novel stands out from the crowd because it is different. The pace is slower than a lot of Fantasy novels, but that’s because the author cares about more than just the characters and what they do. You won’t find the frenetic, non-stop action of The Blade Itself or Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim (although there is action). The author delves deep into the characters’ motivations, their thoughts and feelings, and devotes just as much effort into describing the world they inhabit as the characters themselves. The result is a long, sumptuous feast of a novel where the world is a character in its own right.

Wizard’s First Rule remains one my favourite novels, but there are moments when the progression of the story slows as the author fixes his eagle-eye on landscape, morality, or motivation, a long inhalation before the exhalation of action. Often this delivers more of an impact when we do return to the key characters but there are times when, for me, it goes on just a little too long. Even with this perceived weakness, I would recommend Wizard’s First Rule to anyone who loves Fantasy. It’s a novel filled with rich ideas, clearly formed ideas of what magic is and how it works, bold characters, and a truly great story.

The Write Hand Path is a loose philosophy, one Fantasy author’s map to navigating the dark forest of fiction in today’s world. At its heart is the Writer’s Promise, a set of principles and priorities; a compass for when conflicting advice, shiny distractions, and other pitfalls darken the canopy overhead.

Within the site you’ll find book reviews of recent and classic Fantasy and Science Fiction novels, information on the writer’s journey from first idea to final publication, blog posts covering a variety of topics, and information about authors following their own Write Hand Path.